In fact, the players said speeches Miles made to the team in which he took the blame for the 25-23 loss that dropped LSU (8-3) to No. 15 in the Bowl Championship Series poll increased their respect.

"I respect him, you know a head coach that stands up there in front of his team and his assistants and says, 'this was my fault," I mean, it takes a lot for someone to swallow their pride and say, 'I messed this up,'" tailback Stevan Ridley said. "He did what he needed to do, there's nothing else that needs to be said by him."

Senior tight end Richard Dickson, senior guard Lyle Hitt, and junior linebacker Kelvin Sheppard all said the players not only consider the matter settled, but that Miles should not be singled out as a villain.

"He tried to take the whole blame but I don't know if that's fair," Hitt said. "There's more to a game than the last 30 seconds. He did it because he felt like it was on his shoulders, but I think it's on everyone's shoulders."

Miles also took the blame for the fiasco repeatedly and unequivocally in his weekly press luncheon. He has been in the midst of a blizzard of criticism from fans and national writers for a series of mental errors in the last minute